Covid 19

The NEJM study puts countries like ours in a bit of a spot. In India, as in several other countries, families of Covid-19 patients have been asked to take hydroxychloroquine as a preventive drug. The ICMR last month extended the use of this drug as prophylaxis after it found through observational studies that the drug did not have much side effect.

In Delhi government’s three-tier health setup for Covid patients, asymptomatic and those with mild symptoms are advised home quarantine, those a degree higher are sent to Covid health care centres, while patients with existing ailments who require proper care are admitted to the hospitals

Two points that were raised by a resident doctor in a letter that went viral after AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria's visit at Civil hospital on May 9 included “back-stepping of experienced higher authorities” and “indifference by higher authorities towards residents”.

The study will look to enroll 158 hospitalized patients of moderate Covid-19 in India, the company added. Last month, Glenmark said it would conduct clinical trials in India of just favipiravir as a potential treatment for Covid-19.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure where plasma from the blood of a recovered COVID-19 patient is transfused to a critically ill coronavirus patient. The blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 develops antibodies. When injected into the blood of another patient, these antibodies are supposed to help that person fight the infection.

Now, the ICMR has issued revised guidelines for TrueNat testing for COVID-1, saying the "TrueNat system is now a comprehensive assay for screening and confirmation of COVID-19 cases". According to the guidelines, all samples of suspect COVID-19 should be first tested by the E gene screening assay.

After months of wearing masks to prevent virus infection risks, people can now breathe freely outside without a mask in Beijing, state-run China Daily reported, citing the new guidelines announced by the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Sunday. The centre said people don't need to wear masks outside, but still should avoid close contact with others.

As per mathematical models, each month of lockdown in India could cause an additional 40,685 deaths between 2020 and 2025 due to TB. India will bear the maximum brunt, followed by Kenya with an additional 1,157 deaths and Ukraine with 137 deaths over this period. Another modelling study showed Covid-19 could potentially double the number of malaria deaths.

But in sync with the Union health and family welfare directive, the state health department has asked all district health officials and heads of medical colleges to carry out immunisation programme. A guideline on how to go about it was has also been issued.

The classification of districts as Red Zones will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts. The Green Zones will be districts with either zero confirmed cases till date; or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days.

The four laboratories that test the kits already have a large backlog of samples to be tested, and getting the affidavit physically from some of the manufacturers to the labs could take several days with the country in lockdown, according to Preventive Wear Manufacturers Association of India chair Sanjiiv Rehlan.

The AIIMS director said 80% of the patients have mild symptoms, 15% can be cured with oxygen therapy and 5% need ventilator support. Urging everyone to support the families of patients, Guleria said it was important for patients to come out and get themselves tested. The appeal for testing came on a day when the Centre said it has hit a milestone by conducting 5 lakh RT-PCR tests.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said while Delhi has only two per cent of the country's total population, it accounts for 12 per cent of the total coronavirus cases reported across the nation.

When the blood reaches these curves, it makes changes to its fluid mechanics and interactions with the vessel wall. In a healthy person, these changes are in harmony with the tortuous microenvironment, but when diseased, these environments could lead to very complex flow conditions that activate proteins and cells that eventually lead to blood clots.